EUROPIPE JV is the main supplier for the first offshore string of the South Stream pipeline

EUROPIPE, a joint venture between Salzgitter AG Group and Dillinger Hüttenwerke, will supply 450,000 tonnes of steel pipes under an agreement with South Stream Transport for the construction of the first offshore section of the South Stream gas pipeline.

This large order, which EUROPIPE won as a result of tough competition, will ensure satisfactory utilization of the main capacity for the next twelve months. EUROPIPE will start fulfilling the order from the second quarter. The feedstock will be provided in the form of high quality plates by two joint stock companies.

The South Stream system will connect gas fields in Russia with Central and South-Eastern Europe. The pipeline runs along the bottom of the Black Sea and consists of four lines. They will be 931 km long, each with a diameter of 813 mm and a wall thickness of 39 mm. For the offshore section of the pipeline, pipes made of X65 steel with a pressure of 28.45 MPa will be used.

Construction will begin in autumn 2014 following the formation of a pipe storage base in Bulgaria, and the first section of the offshore gas pipeline is slated for commissioning at the end of 2015.

In addition to the German company EUROPIPE, which will supply 50 percent of the total volume of pipes, the suppliers will be domestic pipe manufacturers, who received the remaining 50 percent of the order represented by the United Metallurgical Company (35 percent) and Severstal (15 percent). In total, the amount of contracts exceeds one billion euros.